People wonder if Trump will create a "Reichstag Fire" situation...

[Kablooie]

For those who don't know, the Burning of the Reichstag, Germany's parliament building, was attributed to Communist terrorists. Chancellor Hitler convinced President Hindenburg to temporarily suspend civil liberties so he could implement extreme measures to protect the nation. Once this was done Hitler never allowed the laws to be restored, thus enabling him to become dictator.

Now if Trump was following that playbook he might use the pandemic to increase his power beyond normal Constitutional limits.

First he would have to ensure that the pandemic grew to truly catastrophic proportions so that extreme measures would be accepted as a remedy. This he is doing right now.

Then once the emergency becomes so dire that something has to be done he would dramatically take control with strict, national lockdown orders and use the military, along with his secret police, to enforce it. The media would cheer him on and many people would swing back to supporting him.

Then in November, if things look favorable for him we would hold the election and Trump's chances would be much better than they are now. If things still look terrible for him he might call for a 'temporary' delay in the election while the virus is so wildly out of control and all the Republicans would certainly support him.

Trump probably couldn't manage a scheme like this but he has wily advisors that might.

I hope this is just a paranoid fantasy but beware.
His minions are certainly working on horrific, nefarious schemes to keep him in power and something like this could be in the works.

If Trump suddenly steps up to take control of the pandemic, look out!

[murielm99]

1. Trump is too stupid to take control of the pandemic.

Even his wily advisors would be unable to keep him on track. He is too erratic and unpredictable for them to control him.

He does not have the manpower to take over and have a national lockdown. The military would not go along with it.

We have to keep fighting back. He is not as strong as he, and everyone else, thinks he is. He is just an out of control madman. He will do much damage, but we have to keep fighting back.

[vsrazdem]

2. Well he's already got his SS.

[Auggie]

3. I imagine lockdowns in urban areas that vote blue

Cleveland, Milwaukee, Detroit ... could lockdowns in those those cities, combined with usual ways of hindering/stealing the election, be enough to neutralize Biden’s electoral advantage? Only takes four or five key states.

[dawn5651]

4. it's already happening, what is happening in portland will soon be nationwide.

[The King of Prussia]

5. There will be no "October Surprise" or anything else from Trump.

The Republican "surprise" will be the death of Trump.

[malaise]

6. That police union building fire in Portland - what was that?

Hmmmmmmmmm!

[brooklynite]

7. "People wonder" is as authoritative as "I hear".

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. If you think we're not in one, you haven't been paying attention.

[lark]

9. Nope, I think this is definitely what he/PUtin have planned.

His every action is to make this more killing and to create more chaos and destruction. He is also telling people that we libruls are planning on stealing the election from him and they should use 2nd Amendment solutions at the polls and stop us. A gun shop owner near us told my husband this back in March as the reason his shelves were empty. He wants the pandemic to be a disaster so lots of us die or are very sick or at the least very worried, he wants red state governors to close all (but 1?) pollilng place in the cities so lines take many hours and people will become frustrated and leave or act out so his goons can bring their guns to bear. If guns are used, it gives him a pretext to immediately declare a national emergency & martial law and stop the election & dare SCOTUS to throw him out. The military would back him up - he's the CIC and in the moment they just follow orders. Who would throw him out - certainly the (In)Justice Det. would back him 100%. I appreciate Bidens' post about this, but don't think it actually reflects our current disarray.